More Blisters

[feral air]

So I finished getting my cedar tree all cleaned up and dug a 4ft deep hole. Just 5 more blisters.

At about 4ft down the soil here turns into this sandstone/shale kind of stuff that's basically impossible to get through. The hole is really about 4ft 6in deep, which should be enough. I had to borrow my boss' "tamper bar", which is basically a 50lb steel bar with a wedge on one side, to get through the last 6 inches. And of course the last 6in took longer than the previous 4ft.

It took some work but I got the tree in the hole last night and got everything cleaned up just as it was getting dark. That was quite an experience. I managed to do it by myself using a good long rope, a nearby tree, my truck and tractor. Back and forth, back and forth...inch by inch.

I still need to "plumb" the pole and fill in the hole but I'll get that done later and see if I can't snap a picture.

I need to get the rest of the vawt done too but I'm one step closer to a working system. Good thing I'm not in any kind of hurry I guess.

[feral air]

My lil tractor on the left. Perfect for squeezing through narrow gates, between trees and the like. Just big enough that I don't look like a fool driving it. Sure makes cleaning the barn easier among other things...like putting poles in the ground.

Got a mountain you want bulldozed? That beastly machine in the background could do it. We recently fixed the blade hoist (pre-hydraulic) but it's very (very!) rarely used. The sad thing is that it's worth more as scrap than as a working dozer - the blade on the beast easily outweighs the Kubota.

Anyway, the red lines show where there won't be a tree anymore. I need to sharpen the chainsaw blade before I can cut the one tree down and trim the others back though. I hate cutting living trees down but it's for a good cause, besides my sheep and goats will make quick work of the leaves and I can use the rest as firewood. I've got 80+acres in trees/woods anyway.

The water tank is missing from the picture but it will go between the pole and the remaining 2 trees.

I know the pole looks crooked but it's not that bad. If nothing else, I can run a wire from the pole to one of those remaining trees and tension it. I doubt putting the vawt up there will do much to straighten it since it won't weigh more than 35lbs, counting the supports and all. It's not like it needs to be exactly plumb anyway.

So, now I've got a 21-ish foot cedar pole and it only cost me a few bucks. A couple cups of fuel for the chainsaw, two bucket loads of gravel and a bit of deisel for the tractor. Good deal!

[disaray1]

Feral-

 Are you using the plastic barrel vawt on the top, driving an airpump?

 Lookin' good!

David

[finnsawyer]

Seems to me you should set that tree/pole in concrete.  Just a suggestion.

[feral air]

Not on the tippy-top but about where I put the blue square, and yeah, I got the air compressor about a week ago.

Still a bit of work to do though. Thanks!

[feral air]

You'd think so but I've done just enough fencing around here to know better...

What happens here is the ground dries out toward the end of summer and pulls away from the concrete and then your poles move or tilt and there's nothing you can do about it. Trying to pull them back into position just pulls them out of the ground.

With gravel every little vibration (from the vawt) will make the rocks settle which will increase the strength. And when the ground starts drying out I can add more gravel as needed. It's best to use 1/4" road crush or whatever they call it. It has lots of "fine" in it that makes it nearly as solid as concrete once it's packed down.

It's too late anyway, there's no way I'd be able to get the gravel back out even if I wanted to.

[vawtman]

It may be worth a few more blisters to get another pole.When the wind hits your unit it might also turn the pole.

 Looks like your havin fun.

 Just my opinion.

[feral air]

I hadn't really given that much thought but you're right. It'd take quite the gust to turn it though. When we were setting the pole we (3 guys) tried turning it before the gravel went in...no luck.

I guess if that happens I can always claim that it's the furling mechanism and that it rotates on purpose. Not like the vawt cares which way it faces.

Seriously though, good call...it's something to think about.

[electrondady1]

if you know were the prevaling wind comes from,

 and you sit your mill upwind or out of the wind shadow of the pole it should work nice.

[feral air]

For sure, it will be mounted into the prevailing winds but we get wind from most every direction, which is why I'm building a vawt.

I actually planned ahead for this, I just didn't want to admit to it earlier because I probably over-engineered it and was trying to be nice...

The part of the pole that's burried wasn't left round. Before we put the pole in the ground, I had cut some of the wood off so that the part of the pole that's burried is sort of crescent shaped - more like a "keyed shaft" I guess. I also cut a rough counter-clockwise screw shape into the bottom too.

There's just no way that the wind could ever rotate the pole. If it did start to rotate, the pole would try to screw into the ground and stop real quick.

Still, good lookin' out and I appreciate the comments!

[thefinis]

I have to agree somewhat on the concrete as in most cases I don't use it for setting posts. It works for adding to pipe posts to help keep them from turning or on end posts just for added weight. Here it tends to want to slowly work out of the ground with the shrinking and swelling between wet and dry periods. Seems odd but most posts(not end/corner posts) will settled if just buried in the dirt while the concreted ones tend to rise at least on  fence lines around here in clay dirt not sand. A lump of cement at the bottom seems to work better than trying to pour to the top. In town on chain link and cedar fences it is needed as ballast against wind loading.

For the vawt tower I would have considered it just for the weight but it should be fine just buried with guy wires. Is your post going in green or has it dried? If green pour some burnt lube or other substance right at the bottom of the pole to help keep off insects and rot. I know that pouring old oil isn't very eco minded but it helps and the wood will soak most of it up as it dries.

Have fun

Finis

[feral air]

I thought about putting in some concrete for extra weight but my "investor" didn't want to spring for a couple bags of cement. Cheapskate.

The pole is probably 90% dry or so. It was standing-dead all summer and after I cut it down and debarked it I let it sit out for a couple weeks, give or take. If any oil seeped into the water table I'd be in big trouble so it's too late now. I had thought about slathering it with a deck sealer beforehand but I didn't have enough to make a difference. Again, my cheapskate investor didn't want to spring for the materials.

I don't mind having to replace the pole in 10 years though since this one was basically free. The vawt's wear-components (v-belt, bearings & compressor) are sure to go out (and/or need rebuilding) by then anyway.

We have lots of different plant species here so there might be something I can use as an insect/rot repellant. I guess I need to gather some samples and take 'em to the extension office for the master gardners to look at. Even a weak solution would be better that nothing...but apparently it needs to be "free".

[thefinis]

Your big cedar post should outlast the vawt several times over especially since you let it dry. I was worried you just cut one and stuck it in the ground. For some reason if you bury them green they rot fast at least all the nonheart wood. You stripped the bark off your post which should make it last much longer too. Around here a well dried cedar post will last 50 years or more.

Everyone gets all weird about oil on the ground yet most paved roads when being first built are sprayed with oil before the tar is laid down. I had forgotten about the well being so close so you are better off to go natural. I wouldn't want anything toxic on the ground within a couple of hundred feet of the well. What is safe varies with soil type, water table depth and what and how much of anything you put out.

Finis